ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an annotated glossary of selected key concepts from gender and digital media theory, which will assist with understanding the themes and discussions featured throughout the book. It provides a practical and accessible guide for students to begin to understand and explore the diversity and richness of this complex field. The chapter is divided into four sections: the first section explores broader concepts such as identity, subjectivity, representation, and digital intimacy that are fundamental for our understanding of both gender onscreen and online. The second section focuses on specific issues emerging from the intersection of gender, diaspora, mobility, and coloniality, and reflects on how gendered interactions with digital media occur in contexts shaped by structural inequalities. Drawing on critical feminist and queer theory, the third section explores overlapping aspects of our gendered interactions with digital media and explains concepts such as intersectionality, hegemonic masculinity, and postfeminist theory. The final section looks at the dark side of the online world and provides some of the essential concepts for exploring exclusionary discourses and violent practices online, such as the manosphere, incels, misogynoir, and technology-facilitated gender-based violence. Some of the core concepts are revisited and further explained at the end of each section. The chapter makes clear that definitions and meanings are not fixed and may shift according to context, discipline, and author.
